Avid collector hopes to start own museum

Reai Harper is a retired police officer who has had a love for history since he was a boy.

He has gone further with his passion and has been collecting items of historical value which he intends to place in a museum to preserve our heritage.

"From my boyhood days you could find me in the company of the elders. I enjoyed their storytelling and their walks down the history of Jamaica and more intimately, Duanvale, the district right here in Trelawny where I was born," Harper disclosed.

"I started collecting a few items in the early years, but then it was just simply collecting old stuff," said Harper. But that all changed when he joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force in 1971.

"Then I saw how other people collecting items, abandoned and restored to beauty, and I decided to protect my heritage," he said. At his Duanvale home, he has a buffet full of artefacts.

"When Jamaica became an independent nation in 1962, cups and plates were given out as souvenirs. I still have mine. I have the old 'kitchen bitch' lamp, the old kerosene lamp, clothes iron, shaver to shave ice, which was used to make snowball, and a whole trunk full of items," Harper told THE STAR.

Of key interest is his collection of currency that has been used in Jamaica since Independence and even before. The collection includes farthings, silver thrupance, two-and- sixpence coin, and paper notes of all values, from five shillings to today's $5,000 bill.

The collector quoted Nelson Mandela who said, 'You cannot be proud of yourself if you do not know your history'. That quote has been a guiding factor in his drive to protect his heritage.

Harper has spent thousands of dollars collecting and restoring items. His collection also includes historic pictures. He is particularly proud of a picture of the University Chapel in St Andrew.

"This chapel is originally from Hampden in Trelawny. It was removed on a request from Princess Alice and taken to St Andrew. Of significance was when the stones were removed, they were marked to maintain the original placement, to ensure that the reconstruction was like the original," Harper disclosed

In preparation for his museum, Harper has prepared a walking trail which leads to the proposed site.

"Along the trail I have planted flowers [like] the blue mahoe, the lignum vitae, coffee, calabash, aloe vera, among others. The intention us to teach children and adults who visit the museum about our heritage as they walk along the trail," he informed.

Nature's World Oasis is the registered name of the company He has not just sat back and kept his plans to himself.

"I have entered various pieces in the Jamaica Festival, from which I got two silver medals recently," he said.